As it ascended, the smells and air currents only grew stronger. Then, over a few steps, the tunnel's ceiling simply… ended. Far above, farther than Mimyk could even comprehend, pinpricks of light twinkled. The air moved freely and smelled of abundant life. The majesty of it all drove Mimyk to its knees. A tiny click echoed in Mimyk's mind like a door being unlocked.

A flood of sensation washed over it and it was drawn into a memory.

An old human male with a short, well-groomed beard stood in front of Mimyk. It was immobilized by some form of magic. The man looked over his shoulder and checked something before facing Mimyk and beginning to speak.

"If you are viewing this message, you have successfully made it to the surface. It was my magic that caused your awakening to sentience.

Because of certain… difficulties, I am unable to return to my home. There is a message that must reach them, and so I devised this spell to enhance your intelligence and give you some basic knowledge. I suspect the geas I placed on you will become progressively less effective as you gain intelligence and experience.

As such, I must humble myself and make a request of you: Make your way to my home. The geas will point you to it, but it cannot compel you. Once you arrive, my message will appear in your mind. After you deliver the message, the task will be complete, and my family will reward you according to my instructions." He sharply turned and looked in another direction, as if listening for some far-off sound. After a moment, he turned back to Mimyk.

"I have one other request: As you traverse the surface, if you have any gratitude for the gift of sentience, please avoid killing any innocent thinking creatures. I have no desire to be responsible for any casualties, and I have done my best to grant you sufficient ability to overcome your natural instincts." He looked up and froze, "I must end this message here." The memory faded.

That explains… almost everything.

Mimyk considered the request. The task doesn't seem all that demanding… and I'm curious what the reward might be.

Now that it had gotten more used to the vastness of the sky, it took in the surrounding terrain. It was standing in a mountainous forest. The tunnel from whence it had emerged appeared to be little more than a large crevice in a rocky hillside.

Mimyk set off in the direction the instinct, or rather, the geas, indicated.

It wandered down through the mountains. It continued to make solid strides in gaining balance and speed. On the other hand, psychic abilities were much more difficult to use. On one occasion it had been lucky enough to immobilize a squirrel with a blast of confusion, but it had been unable to repeat the achievement since.

As Mimyk reached lower elevations, it had the prickling sensation that it was being watched. It continued along warily, but it detected no sign of other creatures. That is until an arrow struck it in the back of its goblin-like skull. Fortunately, it was far denser than any true goblin's head has any right to be, and the arrow simply made a small gash in the skin and bounced off.

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Turning towards the source of the arrow, Mimyk saw a human camouflaged against a scrubby bush. Oh, it's a human. I think I'm not supposed to kill those? But what counts as innocent? It did attack me first. It tried to extend a mental probe to inspect the human, who was holding still in a futile effort to 'remain' hidden. Surprisingly, the mental probe was a lot easier this time. Maybe smarter creatures are easier to interact with? it mused.

It discovered why it had been attacked. Oh, apparently humans don't like goblins. Well, that's easy to fix. Mimyk walked to the side of the human's hiding place, then with a snap reached out and bound its torso with a vinelike appendage. The human screamed and struggled in vain.

Mimyk tried to reassure him, but it hadn't tried to speak before, and it was rather clumsy at it. "Clam… cam… calm. Calm!" It shouted uselessly, giving him a gentle shake. The human gave no indication of understanding. Mimyk tried some more frustrating noisemaking. "Ihye. Ii? I! Jeh—just! Lhrukng… lhookng? Looking! I just looking!" It finally managed.

The man froze. "What?" Mimyk gently peeked into his mind and quickly filled in some of the gaps in its knowledge of speech. "I'm juss looking how humans whak. Work." Mimyk slowly enunciated.

Finally realizing it understood him, the human demanded, "Release me or kill me! I'll not be the plaything of some abyssal abomination!"

"What's 'abyssal'?" Mimyk asked innocently. The human simply gaped at him and offered no reply, so it looked to his mind for answers. Apparently, an abyss was a dark, fiery place filled with cackling monsters of all shapes and descriptions, so Mimyk understood the confusion. After all, it could look like any of those if it practiced enough!

"No, no. Not abyssal. Mimyk!" It said proudly. Oddly, this did not seem to reassure the terrified human.

Mimyk tried a different approach and morphed into a near-lookalike of the human. Except for the binding appendage of course. It still needed him to stay put until it perfected the disguise.

"See? No goblin! Mimyk!" It said reassuringly.

The human still didn't look happy. "You're a mimic?" he asked hesitantly. Mimyk nodded vigorously. "What in the blazes are you doing on the surface? Don't mimics just, well, mimic treasure chests and ambush thieves?"

"Yes. But I have message," it said, as if that explained everything.

"So what's the message?" The human asked.

"Not for you. For… others." It waved vaguely at the horizon.

"Uh. Alright. So… If you're not going to eat me, how about letting me go?" The human asked hopefully.

Mimyk hummed thoughtfully.

"Hold on..." it continued to hum, then gave him another fright as without warning it turned him over and rotated him like a jeweler inspecting a ring.

"Done!" it said triumphantly, and the binding around him unraveled and disappeared, leaving behind only a disconcerting doppelganger in his form.

When he didn't immediately start walking, it gave him a friendly pat on the head and nudged him forward. He looked back at the mimic, then shook himself and took off at a run.

I did so good at not killing the human! Even after it poked me! Mimyk congratulated itself.

Human legs were much longer than goblin legs, so Mimyk was able to travel faster than before. It reached the valley floor and soon spotted a smooth path covered in tracks and wheel ruts.

A road! For traveling, Mimyk observed excitedly.

It enthusiastically bounded down the road. It didn't notice the slight tremors it caused when it stepped, or how its prints were far deeper than those left by humans.

It happily wondered what the message reward would be, and thus distracted, failed to hear distant screaming from the village it approached.